Milburn 'breaks NHS nurse pledge'

10:40AM BST 14 Aug 2001

HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn is accused of undermining his pledge to keep staff in the NHS after nurses were told to move - or work for a private firm.

Private firm Blanchworth Care is building a nursing home that will replace the NHS Kington Cottage Hospital in Herefordshire. Seventeen NHS nurses currently staff the cottage hospital, which has an out-patients' clinic, 24-hour minor injuries unit and a ward of beds.

They have been told to work for the firm or move to another NHS site. Health officials insisted staff were not being forced out of the NHS, although they could not give details of where other jobs might be found.

But the move was described as the "thin end of the wedge" by Unison, the largest public sector union. Unison spokeswoman Edna Hall said: "If our members wanted to work for the private sector they would have applied for jobs in the private sector.

They've protested strongly about being forced into this situation." In June, ago Mr Milburn told MPs there was "no case" for transferring staff out of the NHS just weeks ago. "It is important we keep clinicians, clinical services and clinical staff inside the NHS," he told the Commons.

The deal had not yet been signed and was not a "fait accompli", a Department of Health spokeswoman said. Any nurses choosing to transfer to the new nursing home would do so with the same terms and conditions of employment as they had under the NHS, she said. There would be negotiations about how their pensions could be protected if the deal went ahead, she added. But John Edmonds, head of the GMB, said it "devalued" Mr Milburn's pledge.